Sunday

May 12, 2019 at 9:00 AM

ASHLAND - George H. W. Bush had just taken office in 1989 when Don and Janet Gordon opened the Premier Image Gallery.

While five presidents have occupied the Oval Office over the last three decades, Don Gordon has been a constant presence in the Ledgemere Plaza gallery on Eliot Street giving local artists – from award-winning veterans to aspiring beginners – a place to show and sell their work.

“For as long as I can remember, Don and Janet (Gordon) have served Ashland and neighboring communities by showcasing local artists,” said painter Charles Holt. “Local artists continue to thrive in a tough market because the Gordons support their careers by making our work available to the public.”

To celebrate their 30th anniversary, the Gordons will hold an open juried exhibition and competition with cash prizes for individuals and members of area art associations and guilds.

The 30th Anniversary Open Competition and Exhibition will run from May 16 through June 29 with an Open House for artists and visitors to be held on Thursday, May 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

“This will be a special show for us because it celebrates the work of all the artists and groups we've worked with for 30 years,” said Gordon, a Milford resident. “It gives artists the exposure they need to earn public recognition and sell their work. And it gives the public the chance to meet local artists and buy their work.”

Gordon said artists can submit up to two paintings, photos or sculptures including mixed media pieces for the exhibit. There is a nonrefundable $8 entry fee per piece with half the funds collected to be returned to submitting artists through cash awards.

He plans to show at least one work by all submitting artists and expects about 30 artists to show and more than 40 works..

Art in the show will be judged by Gordon and two experienced jurors who have previously worked with the gallery. He said jurors' identities will not be disclosed before the show to ensure no artist receives favored treatment

Cash prizes will be awarded in three categories: oil and acrylic paintings; watercolors; and other media, such as pastels, photographs and sculpture.

Now 72, Gordon said he plans to keep running the gallery for several more years because he “enjoys meeting the artists and showing my customers different kinds of art.”

Several local artists preparing to submit works for the exhibit credit Gordon and the gallery for providing a space to show their art and advance their careers.

The vice-president of the Framingham Artists Guild, Holt said showing his oil paintings in gallery's exhibits over the last decade kept him “in touch” with the local arts scene and motivated to keep improving.

Like many other artists, the Framingham resident recalled a passion for art that began as a child and never subsided.

Even while working as a software engineer and raising his family, Holt studied under classically trained teacher Nadia Mahfuz and artists at the Danforth Art Museum, developing an award-winning style with rich yet subtle colors and an eye for detail.

For the show, he will be submitting an oil painting of his father's dairy farm on what is now Rte. 30 that evokes the raw beauty of a traditional New England landscape.

Fulfilling a passion to create that began in elementary school, Pearl McCarthy paints still lifes, portraits and landscapes that imbue scenes and people from real life with a tranquil beauty.

The Wayland resident said she believes the more people who see the exhibit benefits local artists by supporting their work and spreading their reputations by word of mouth.

Growing up in Fall River, she won praise in school for her striking oil paintings, but inspired by her father who worked in the garment business she decided in the sixth grade to be a fashion designer.

While attending Massachusetts College of Art, McCarthy worked for a Newbury Street designer and put the finishing touches on gowns for First Lady Nancy Reagan and supermodel Grace Jones, among others.

But disliking the “cutthroat” atmosphere of high fashion, McCarthy sought the “nurturing” creativity of art and switched her academic major to painting with a certification to teach.

While raising five children, she has taught privately and at Arts Wayland and earned dozens of awards for her paintings, many which are held in private collections across the country.

McCarthy lost her right leg to cancer 17 years ago but has continued her award-winning career, living and creating “as authentically as I can.”

“When I paint, I'm trying to express beauty, tranquility and quietness,” she said.

With degrees in art history and architecture, Raffi Kodjian creates fanciful art that explores the difference between “reality and fantasy.”

Combining elements of Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte, the Ashland resident paints fantastic landscapes of crying blue fish and fried eggs, windows suspended from chains that reveal other worlds and his own surreal vision of the 9/11 bombings.

Growing up in Watertown, he “drew and doodled” as a child and later studied watercolors under the late Gene Faucher at night.

Over the years, Kodjian forged his own imaginative style by “letting my imagination take over and throw a curve ball” into viewers' expectations.

“I like to take a familiar object and play with it and see what happens,” he said. “I've never seen a canvas yell back at me.”

Kodjian predicted Gordon will “present a unique exhibit.”

“I'm sure there will be something for everyone, for every age and every taste,” he said. “Landscapes. Portraits. Still lifes. You name it. It'll be there.”

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